Songs of Life: Shara
by mscatmoon
Summary: A companion to the Half Breed series: tells the story of Josef's brother Shane, Sara, and their life in Resurrection, Alaska for those who are interested in learning more character background.
1. Land of the Midnight Sun

**AN**: 1. there's no Mickbeth here. These will be a series of vignettes providing background on Shane and Sara's (Shara) life in Resurrection Alaska for those who are interested. It will help provide a better idea of who these characters are when reading stories in the Half Breed Universe. 2. I don't think any of them will actually be rated M, but I've chosen to put them in that category because I feel it wouldn't be fair to offer them to those underage who then would be unable to read the rest of the series. 3. All characters here are original and created by myself (except for mentions of Josef, who belongs to Moonlight. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

.

**S o n g s o f L i f e**: Shara

_._

_Love and pain, sacrifice_

_Flesh and blood are the songs of life_

_You say I will not go quietly in the night_

--Songs of Life, Bret Michaels

.

Chapter One: **Land of the Midnight Sun**

**.**

_Look at you all standing proud,_

_Dressed to kill, talking loud, guitar in your hand_

_You see sex and violence, love and rage, still survive in this day and age, and you sing about that._

_Life's for the taking so break these chains_

_Come alive, the worlds your stage_

--Songs of Life

.

It reminded him of _home_. Land of the midnight sun. Breathtaking scenery, still relatively untouched by modern civilization so that you could almost think you were living in another era. The long winters spent in darkness and the arctic cold were perfect for a vampire. The summers would be more challenging, days when the sun almost never set, but nothing he couldn't handle. It was north of Fairbanks by several hours, just a little place barely on the map. Even the name of the town sounded appropriate for yet another new life. _Resurrection_. He had a good feeling about this place. Josef had almost busted a gut laughing when he heard Shane was going to take over as _Sheriff_ for a small Alaskan town. No matter; he could make this work.

The deputy's name was Greg Bannister. Greg was in his mid-thirties, tall, with brown hair and a friendly smile. His welcome was sincere, and held no trace of animosity or resentment.

"Good to meet you, Sheriff."

Shane took the offered hand. "Call me Shane."

"Greg. No reason to stand on formalities here."

"I realize it might be a little awkward for you, me coming in like this and taking the job while you've been deputy here for years. I just want you to know that I value and respect your opinions and input. This is _your_ town, and you know it. So when you have something to say, I expect you to say it. I can't do this job without you, and I hope we can work together."

Greg was nodding; he could tell he'd made an impression…but then, Shane Alexander always made an impression. "I'm sure we can."

"Great. Why don't you show me around?"

XXX

By late afternoon he'd had the grand tour and met many of the locals. It was amusing how many of them were vamps, and poor Greg had no clue – and weren't they surprised to find a vampire was now Sheriff, too bad for them the free pass was over. They would now have someone to answer to if they broke the rules the community lived by. Alaska had always held a special appeal for those who live on the fringes of society, and that included the undead.

The boredom would take some getting used to, he supposed, as he studied the Wanted posters in the outer office, committing the faces to memory. Maybe the wild Alaskan vamps would keep him busy. Shane snorted to himself at the amusing phrase. _Wild Alaskan Vamps_. Sounded like a good name for a band. Or maybe some sort of local fish…

"Mind if I cut out on you a bit early?" Greg asked him, as he pulled a guitar out from behind his desk. "I need to stop at the music store before they close, to get this thing restrung."

Funny. Only his first day on the job and the music was already haunting him. Or was that taunting? "Uh, sure. No problem," he managed. He'd always lived in the present, moved on when it was time and didn't look back. This time… this time it was going to take a bit longer.

"You play?" Greg asked, as if he'd noticed something in Shane's expression, or maybe the way he was staring at the guitar. His deputy was sharp, smart. The kind of person who's good to have at your right hand, but conversely also someone he'd have to be especially careful around, considering his secrets.

"Used to. Guitar, sing," he answered shortly.

"I used to play bass, believe it or not. Had a high school band, dreamed of being famous one day, the whole nine yards." Greg laughed. "Nowadays I just play in my room. My daughter yells at me to _turn that music down_!"

Shane couldn't help laughing. Despite the unwelcome reminder of his past life, he had a feeling he and Greg were going to get along well.

XXX

It was only a few weeks later, while having drinks together at the Last Resort, that Greg mentioned it was too bad the bar didn't have a band. Resurrection was seriously lacking entertainment, and about a decade behind the times as small towns usually are: the last thing they were interested in was alternative or grunge. Good old fashioned rock and roll, they could appreciate. The next thing Shane knew, they'd hooked up with a vampire drummer named Silas who was the local blood supplier, and Freddy the real estate agent. Shane and the Boys were born. It might not be perfect, but as least he was keeping his hand in the hobby he loved.

Undead life was looking up again.

_And how did I get from a rock and roll bad boy, to sheriff of a small Alaskan town? Maybe I'll tell you about it someday. Then again, maybe not…_

**End Chapter One: Land of the Midnight Sun**


	2. At First Sight

AN: Just a reminder. Rating so far for this story is T and will probably stay that way (I just don't want anyone getting hooked any unable to read the rest of the universe.) There will be no inappropriate behavior between the characters: it's just friendship at this point.

Chapter Two:

**At First Sight**

**.**

_Now look at you out on the streets_

_Your mom and dad think you're a freak, don't understand you_

_You wear your heart on your sleeve_

_Seems all the people that you meet, they criticize you too._

_But you stand tall and face the pain; you will not fall for the masquerade…_

--Songs of Life

.

It was a typical day for Resurrection. Quiet, peaceful. The middle of the week, so the rowdy drunks weren't getting into any fights. It was late spring. The days were getting longer and the sun higher, which meant most of the vampires were all snug in their "beds".

Unfortunately, Shane Alexander wasn't one of them. He normally worked the nighttime shifts during the second half of the year, but Greg had the flu, and he also had some things he needed to do. He found it amusing when he thought about how he'd lived a human life where people had a serious aversion to the dark, and ended up as vampire who lived in it. The transition hadn't been too difficult. He'd had worse. That being said, he still enjoyed being out in the light, especially in Alaska. The scenery was well worth a bit of discomfort.

Shane stepped out of the cruiser, pulling his hat down further over his face and pushing his sunglasses up higher. The home in front of him was unremarkable, just another house on the outskirts of town. A moving van was parked in the driveway, and boxes and packing material overflowed the garbage cans at the curb.

He went up to the front door and knocked.

The door opened after a moment… and Shane Alexander got his first look at Sara Adams.

"Hi there," he offered. Shane figured her to be about fifteen or sixteen, despite the fact that she was petite. Her long red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was wearing jeans and a T-Shirt that said "I don't have an attitude—you're the problem." When she just stared at him without answering, he looked at her questioningly over his glasses.

"Uh, hi," she finally said.

"I'm Sheriff Alexander. Are your parents at home?"

"Uh, yeah." She stepped aside and let him in. "_Dad_!" she yelled piercingly, making Shane wince at the volume at such close range.

"Cool T-shirt. Is that like a motto, or something?" he quipped just to make conversation. Normally he wasn't good around kids, but for some reason he found her refreshing. He had no idea why. Maybe it was the way her eyes sparkled with both amusement and the hint of fire.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it," she told him instead of answering, a smile just hinting at the corners of her mouth.

"What did you do?" he asked, earning another indecipherable but intense gaze. Yeah, the T-shirt was a motto all right.

A man and a woman walked out from another room, both faces showing surprise to see a man in uniform in their hallway.

"Sheriff? Is anything wrong?" he man asked.

"Oh no, nothing like that. I'm just here in my official capacity as the welcome wagon." He grinned. "I like to stop by and introduce myself to all our new residents. "I'm Shane Alexander." He offered his hand to the man.

"Well, that's a relief," he said, shaking hands. "I'm Ethan Adams."

"No relation to the furniture store," the girl put in.

Ethan gave her a warning look, causing Shane to hastily abort his grin. "This is my wife, Alisha."

"It's so nice to meet you," Alisha told him as she shook his hand.

Ethan then gestured to the girl. "This is our daughter, Sara."

Shane held out his hand to her in turn. "Hi, Sara." She gave him a long look as if taking stock, before finally taking his hand.

"Sara, don't be rude!" her mother scolded. "Now go find something to do while we talk to the Sheriff. Maybe you could unpack the boxes in your room."

Rolling her eyes in response to Alisha's reprimand, Sara went over to the couch by the window and flopped down.

"Teenagers," Ethan explained. "You have kids, Sheriff?"

"Uh, no, I'm not married."

"They can be a handful."

"I bet she can," Shane said, looking at Sara in amusement and finding their eyes locked for a moment.

"Would you like some ice tea, Sheriff?" Alisha offered.

"Oh, no thank you, I have to be getting back. I just wanted to drop in and say hi. Well, if there's anything you need, you be sure to let us know."

"We will. Thanks for coming by. Well, back to the unpacking," Alisha said with a sigh, leaving the room as Ethan walked Shane to the door.

"This is a small town," Shane told him reassuringly. "We take care of our own here."

"You've heard we come from New York," Ethan said. "We lived in the suburbs, but it was a quick trip into the City."

"Quite a change."

"I wanted a nice quiet, decent place to raise my daughter."

"I'm not sure a place like that exists anymore, but good luck."

His hand on the doorknob, Shane looked over to see Sara still in her spot on the couch. He gave her a wink, and then pulled the door closed behind him.

He _felt_ her eyes on him all the way to the car.

**End of Chapter two: at first sight**


	3. Mama's Fallen Angel

Chapter Three:

**Mama's Fallen Angel**

**.**

_Your life's getting stranger_

_You know you can't change her_

_Destiny's a calling you..._

--Songs of Life

.

Shane was alone in the office, catching up on some reports. It was a quiet day, but then most of them were, punctuated by some hell every once in awhile. And most of that never made it into the official reports.

He looked up at the sound of the outer door opening. It was the new girl in town, Sara Adams. She approached his open office door, and stood there.

"Something I can do for you?" he asked when she didn't speak. She didn't seem very talkative from what he'd seen of her.

Sara hovered in the doorway. "My parents sent me over to invite you for dinner tomorrow night."

Dinners were always…trippy. He really disliked the whole necessity, pretending to enjoy the food, bluffing his way through questions about the toughness of the meat or the flavor of the seasonings... But one did what one had to, to blend in with humans.

"Sounds great. What time?"

"Seven."

"Well okay then. It's a date."

She hesitated another moment, then turned to leave.

"Must be pretty tough for you, huh?" He had no idea why he'd initiated conversation.

Sara turned back, seeming surprised at the question. "What?"

Shane leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "Moving _here_, from New York. Leaving all your friends and being within driving distance of the _City_, to come here to the middle of nowhere."

The girl's reserve abruptly vanished; she came into his office and threw herself down on his couch. "You have no idea!" she exclaimed dramatically.

"Yeah, actually I kinda do. I lived in L.A. before moving here."

"What are _you_ being punished for, to be banished here?"

Shane laughed. "I don't think your parents moved here just to punish you. That'd be kinda extreme, wouldn't it?"

She shrugged. "Maybe it's just a nice side benefit for them. Is there like _anything_ halfway interesting to do in this town?"

"Well, there's a band that plays over at the Last Resort on the weekends."

She gave him a skeptical look. "What kind of music?" she asked demandingly.

"Rock, mostly 70's and 80's stuff. A little country."

"They any good?"

"They're phenomenal," he told her with a smile. "But I have to confess I'm a bit biased. It's my band."

Her eyes widened just slightly at the news. "What do you play?"

"I play the guitar and sing lead."

She seemed to reassess him in that moment. "Maybe I'll check you guys out sometime." Still non-committal though. "Well, see ya around."

"See ya," he echoed, having the unsettling feeling that he'd just set something huge in motion, but not quite sure why.

**End Chapter Three: Mama's Fallen Angel**


	4. Wild Child

.

Chapter Four:

**Wild Child**

_You're so wild  
You're wild and willing  
So wild (your spirit's free)  
You're such a wild, wild child…  
_--Wild Child, Heart

.

Sheriff Alexander was stopped at the red light by Resurrection High when he saw old Mrs. Erwin hurrying towards the cruiser. Judging by the look on her face, there was some sort of trouble. He rolled down his window as she arrived at the car, out of breath.

"Sheriff, please come, there's a fight in the school yard!"

It was days like this that made him slightly embarrassed to be the Sheriff of a small Alaskan town in the middle of nowhere.

Shane cut across the street and pulled up by the door to the school. He had no idea what was awaiting him, but didn't expect it to be much of a big deal. His policing of the vampires in the area gave him some hairy moments now and again, but most of the time the human crime in town wasn't anything more serious than bar fights and domestics. Even violent human crime wasn't unduly problematical for him. A call to the school certainly didn't alarm him.

As he made his way around the back of the building he automatically cast out his vamp hearing to access the situation. What he heard…well, he wasn't quite sure _what_ to make of what he heard.

"You keep your hands off my boyfriend, you ho!" a girl said, sounded like Ginny Stevens.

"Like I'd be interested in that _little_ boy!" came Sara Adam's indignant voice loud and clear. "I've got dildos at home bigger!"

Shane's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Oh lord…" he muttered to himself, picking up his pace before Sara could get herself suspended. He rounded the corner to see the two girls being held back by the school janitor, Jiggs, and Mr. Miller the history teacher. They were struggling to get at each other.

"How dare you!" Ginny yelled.

"Hey, I call 'em as I see 'em," Sara retorted.

"All right – _what_ is going on here?!" Shane demanded in an authoritative voice.

"That bitch accused—" Sara started, only to be interrupted by Ginny. "She tried to--" They both started talking at once; cancelling each other out so that no one could make a word out of what they were saying, not even someone with vampire hearing.

Shane raised one hand and they both lapsed into silence. "Okay, I'm gonna talk to you one at a time." He pretended to give a moment's consideration as to which girl he'd single out first, then took Sara from the restraining hands of the teacher and led her aside.

She started trying to tell him her side of it immediately. "She started it! She—"

"Just calm the fuck down! You can't use language like that in school. Even if it is true."

Sara gaped at him in disbelief that the Sheriff had just said what she'd heard. "You did."

"Did what? No I didn't." He made a show of looking around at the others, who were out of earshot. "Nobody heard anything."

It had the effect he wanted; calmed her down and shut her up. Now she was staring at him with a look that was both incredulous and amused.

"You really are a wild child, aren't ya?"

Sara continued to stare, looking as if she were trying to decide whether to be insulted or complimented by the term.

Seeing she was under control now, Shane went back to Ginny. "Okay, obviously you have a legitimate beef with each other, but you can't be fighting on school grounds. There's only one right way to handle this. We go downtown to the gym. Regulation ring, boxing gloves, protective equipment… You two go a couple of rounds, and settle it the honorable way."

"Are you joking?!" Ginny asked in a shaky voice.

"Fighting like this… it's just low class. You wanna do it; you gotta do it the _right_ way. I can take you both downtown right now," he offered.

"I'll get in the ring," Sara said gleefully, bouncing on the balls of her feet and affecting a fighter stance.

The wind had gone out of Ginny's sails; she was now regarding the sheriff apprehensively. "I… I don't wanna fight her."

It was the answer Shane had expected when he'd made the outrageous offer. "You don't? You sure?" he prompted. "You have a right to settle this."

"No, uh, I think I probably misunderstood. Ronny was just saying hi to her. No harm."

"Well if you're sure…" he let it trail off.

"It's okay," Ginny hastily assured him.

Shane nodded. "All right then, I want you both to shake hands and bury the hatchet. Not in each other's backs," he added wryly.

The two girls shook hands. "I'm sorry I accused you of trying to steal Ron," Ginny told Sara. "No hard feelings?"

"It's forgotten," Sara told her magnanimously. "I promise I won't steal your _man_."

Shane turned away to roll his eyes. He walked over to Mrs. Erwin. "I think everything's under control now."

"Thank you so much, Sheriff Alexander," she said, visibly relieved.

"Don't mention it," he muttered.

On his way back to the truck, Shane couldn't help overhearing the comments of the girls.

"The Sheriff is so _crazy_," Ginny told her BFF.

"The Sheriff is so cool," Sara told Ron.

XXX

The second time Shane got called to school to break up a fight involving Sara, he had to wonder… The third time he clued into the fact that she was now staging them, having figured out that every time she did, Mrs. Erwin would panic and call the Sheriff to come.

After he broke up the mock fight Sara had set up between herself and a classmate, he took the teacher aside for a little talk.

"Thank you again, Sheriff. I don't know what gets into that girl…" Erwin told him, shaking her head.

"She's not gonna stop as long as you keep calling me," Shane explained to her. "We need to try a different strategy. Next time, let 'em fight. Don't call. Believe me, it won't escalate."

"I don't know…" the teacher said dubiously, visibly nervous at the idea.

"This isn't Los Angeles," he reminded her. "It'll be okay. Trust me."

"I guess I could try…"

"That's the spirit," he patted Mrs. Erwin on the back and walked away. "Behave yourself, Wild Child!" he called to Sara as he left.

XXX

Shane was doing his grocery shopping at Foodland that night when he ran into Ethan Adams. He'd already done his 'rounds', discussing cuts of meat with Fred in the butcher department and getting Mrs. Ansley's advice on which avocado was ripest. Just one of the things a vamp did to blend in with humans in a small town, especially when the vamp in question was the high profile sheriff of the town. He didn't buy much, since most of it would go bad anyway, but just enough to get noticed for the normalcy. And when he did happen to have a human visitor to his house, there was always something in the fridge to offer. He had in fact, a reputation for being an incredibly gracious host. Anyone who even rang his doorbell, even the UPS guy, was likely to get offered food, at the very least a can of soda.

"Hey Ethan, how's it going?" he asked as they ran into each other both heading for the checkout line.

"Not bad, how about you?"

"Same old, same old," Shane answered as they took their places in the line.

"You know, I was just bitching to myself about having to stop and pick up a few things for Alisha on my way home from work, but then I see you and I think: thank god, at least I don't have to do _all_ my own shopping. Or cooking. Or laundry. Or…"

"Is this your, 'it's great to be married' speech?" Shane asked with a grin. "Give it up now. I know it's just masked jealousy."

"Everything has its ups and downs," Ethan replied philosophically. "Like being a father." His expression revealed his worry. "I heard there was trouble at school again today. I just don't understand her behavior…"

_**Her**__? Her name is Sara,_ Shane couldn't help but think to himself. Knowing they really didn't have anything to worry about, he sought to reassure Ethan. "Sara's teacher is a bit oversensitive," he explained. "She worked in the inner city school system in L.A. for fifteen years. Every time a minor disagreement starts she's expecting the guns to break out. I had a talk with her; I don't think it'll happen again."

Ethan looked slightly dubious, but also obviously wanted to believe. "I hope you're right."

"I am," Shane told him.

XXX

The Adam's had gotten into the habit of inviting Shane to dinner a few times a month. Being a bachelor with no family in the area, Alisha felt he needed a good, home cooked meal once in awhile – even if he _was_ a great cook himself (so the rumor had it). Shane had to admit to himself that he enjoyed it, despite the unpleasantness with the food. There was something _homey_ and comfortable about the evenings spent in the family's home, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere and good conversation.

The next time Shane found himself sitting at their dining room table, both parents were happy to report that Shane was right; things were much better and there had been no more fighting at school.

"That's good news," Shane said, shooting an amused look Sara's way. She was studiously ignoring the conversation, giving all her attention to the food on her plate instead. If Shane had to guess, he'd say she wasn't too pleased about being talked about as if she weren't in the room.

"It's too bad you don't have kids of your own," Ethan told him. "You'd make a good father. You're great with kids."

Sara nearly spit out her ice tea as she erupted in a fit of laughter.

If she was thinking about the cursing and threat to put the girls into a boxing ring, she probably had a point. Shane gave her his 'amused, tolerant, Sara look'. "What? You think it's funny, huh?" he asked with good humor. He liked hearing her laughter.

"Sara!" Ethan reprimand. "You can be so rude." He frowned when she didn't seem inclined to apologize. "Look, I know you think of Shane like a big brother, but you still should be a little respectful of the Sheriff."

Her father's words only made her laugh harder. Shane had a sneaking suspicion he knew why, but decided ignorance was a good personal strategy in this case.

When Ethan's look darkened and Sara knew she was about to be in trouble, she apparently decided to be proactive. "Okay, I'll take myself to my room," she said, getting up from the table. "It was worth it. Thanks for the laughs," she said on her way to the stairs.

"_Thanks_, W.C." Shane called to her. Short for Wild Child of course, although only two people in the house would know that.

"Goodnight, Sheriff Alexander, sir," floated sweetly down from the stairs.

"I just don't understand that child sometimes," Ethan admitted.

"She doesn't mean any offense by it."

"You have so much patience," Ethan told him. "I guess it's a good trait to have, being a sheriff." And thankfully for Shane the subject of children was dropped.

**End Chapter Four: Wild Child**


	5. The Other Side of Me

Chapter Five:

**The Other Side of Me**

**.**

_Got a bad reputation, living on the wilder side_

_But you saw something different when you looked into my eyes…_

_You saw the other side of me_

_A story yet untold_

_Found the love in my heart_

_And breathed new life in my soul…_

_Girl I'm glad you found the other side of me…_

--The Other Side of Me, Bret Michaels

.

Friday night at the Last Resort could be pretty lively. It was usually packed, the town's residents gathering at the end of a hard work week to blow off steam and party hard. Being the only entertainment in the town, Shane and the Boys always attracted an appreciative crowd.

It started out as a typical night, but halfway through the second song, Shane felt an itch. As if he was being watched. It bugged him through the next couple of songs, as he puzzled out what might be causing the unusual sensation. He watched the audience as he sang, searching for the source. Finally, he spotted a figure in the shadows by the back door.

Sara Adams.

Shane couldn't help grinning. He wasn't an expert on teenagers, but it was past eleven and knowing Ethan he had a feeling she was beyond her curfew. He made it a point to look in her direction through the next few songs to telegraph that he knew she was there, that she hadn't pulled one over on the Sheriff. Should he have known that plan would backfire in a way that he could never have imagined?

When the band took a break, Shane used his vamp abilities to sneak up on her. Needless to say, he was stunned when she didn't startle or even react to him showing up at her side unexpectedly. She was proving to be a very unique girl.

"Are you supposed to be here?" he asked.

Sara gave him one of the looks he was quickly determining to be _her_ 'signature'. Like she was highly insulted that the world was full of such idiots. "I guess maybe you're just a dumb hick town Sheriff after all."

He hooted at her nerve, not taking offense.

"You gonna turn me in?" She gave him a challenging look.

Instead of answering, he glanced toward the stage a moment, then back. "So what do you think?"

"Passable," she decreed with a grin that said she might feel otherwise. "You should play more stuff like Kiss and Poison though. Maybe some Whitesnake."

"Not sure our audience is quite ready for that," he quipped.

Sara gave him an assessing look that was startlingly deep. "Do you play what _they_ want you to, or what _you_ want to play?"

There was a moment of stunned silence on Shane's part. "That was uncomfortably perceptive," he surprised himself by saying aloud when he meant for it to stay in his head.

"See you tomorrow night," Sara told him as she slipped through the shadows to the door. Hand on knob, she turned. "You could start with "Every Rose Has It's Thorn. _Everybody_ loves that one."

And she was gone.

That was the start of it. Sara quickly became a regular fixture at the shows. At first, she snuck over to see them play, keeping out of sight so her parents wouldn't find out. It amused him, the antics of this bored teen. He felt for her plight, so he kept her secret. Later on, as she grew older and her parents hold on her slipped even more, her place moved to the front row. Sometimes side of the stage. She became their #1 fan and biggest cheering section. One day he realized it would feel weird and empty to look out from the stage and _not_ see her standing there, body moving to the music, dressed in her carefully chosen concert outfits (while the rest of the room kept to jeans and flannel).

Like him, she was out of place and time among the other citizens of Resurrection. The difference was that Shane was playing his role as he always had since being turning into a vampire. You reinvent yourself and move along, you stay for awhile. Then it starts all over again. Only this time… this time it felt like there was a _real Shane_ inside somewhere that he'd given up. It stuck in his craw like a bad batch of 'shine. But life was what it was. He was the Sheriff. The rock and roll days were behind him, and that was that.

Or would have been. Should have been.

Why did it feel like she _knew_ him?

XXX

_In retrospect, maybe I encouraged things with my actions, all the little things that kept adding up like inviting her to see the band in the first place or giving her differential treatment so often. Or maybe it would have all happened regardless of anything on my part. I guess maybe I didn't treat her the way I should have. I don't think I knew how. I just can't play that role… I can't be the father figure. I've never had kids or been married – hell, in my human days they were working hard alongside the adults already at her age. What do I know? I can be the unassuming Sheriff, but I can't be the Voice of Reason, the old __fashioned parental figure. I've played a lot of roles over the centuries, but I've never gone against my core beliefs._

_Or, maybe I **was** starting to veer off in that direction, until I was brought back on course by one strong-willed, tough, wise wild child named Sara Adams._

_._

**End Chapter Five: The Other Side of Me**


	6. The Way to Heaven

**AN**: Just a reminder; these are just little stories that the characters occasionally whisper into my ear, little slices of life. Not really in any kind of order and they don't follow immediately after previous chapters, although for now they _are_ in chronological order.

.

Chapter Six:

**The Way to Heaven**

**.**

_She was searching for a magician of the heart_

_Someone to possess her mind and free her body from the dark_

_She was chasing down a fantasy lost between the lines_

_She was living out a memory locked up deep inside…_

_He was searching for a wild child he could tame_

_Someone to undress her mind_

_And keep the secrets of his game…_

--All the Way to Heaven, House of Lords

.

The Resurrection Church's annual fall fundraiser was going splendidly well. The raffle tickets were selling fast, helped no doubt by the fact that the prize was a big screen TV that had been generously donated by the local furniture store. The games of chance were popular, as always. The baked goodies had already been almost totally scarfed up by the townsfolk – well, except for poor Mrs. Devonshire's lemon wedges; they were her "specialty" but alas it seemed only the town's sheriff had the intestinal fortitude to actually eat them and the overabundance of kindness necessary to pretend they tasted good. Needless to say, he'd probably be buying them all up himself before the night was out. People did groan at the idea of Annie getting any encouragement to bake more, but Sheriff Alexander was well loved by all so no one complained.

So popular was he in fact, that he was the unanimous first choice of the committee to participate in their date-with-a-hunk auction. He graciously agreed. Greg had warned him not to expect huge bids for his buff bod, it being a small, hard working town. But he'd just shrugged; it was for charity.

And so Shane found himself standing slightly self-consciously on a makeshift stage in front of the church full of people, the attention strangely different from being on stage during a show. The auctioneer was Jonas Faulkner, one of the church committee members and the owner of the local diner.

"Here he is," Jonas said into the microphone, "One of the county's most eligible bachelors, our own Sheriff Alexander. He's ready to take one of you ladies out on the town – maybe he'll even take you to _Fairbanks_." The audience ooh'd at the implied treat.

Shane grinned. "Maybe we won't leave my house," he said suggestively. More enthusiastic ooh's greeted him.

"That's right, the Sheriff is also a great cook, maybe he'll make you a special dinner," Jonas easily deflected. "Okay, it's time to start the bidding. Who would like to make the first bid?"

"Fifty dollars," came a voice and raised hand that belonged to Sara Adams. Her eyes were twinkling in amusement.

Jonas shook his head. "Sorry honey, the auction is for adults only. Come back in a few years."

She raised her eyebrows at the reproach, but said nothing. Shane didn't even want to speculate on whether she was serious or just poking her usual fun at the established order. He saw her shrug, and figured it was a "oh well, it was worth a shot" kinda thing.

Jonas continued the auction. "Okay, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Shane works out regularly at the downtown gym. And you couldn't feel safer than being out on a date with the Sheriff."

"Fifty dollars," a lady in the third row bid. Shane recognized her as one of the women from the Pilates class he often visited after his workouts.

"Sixty," His dispatcher Sadie surprised him by bidding.

"Sixty five…"

In the end, it was the elderly teacher Mrs. Erwin who won him, for a whopping one hundred and twenty dollars. Only the former high school football hero had ever brought more.

As Shane jumped off the small stage, Sara was there shaking her head sadly. "What?!" he wanted to know. "It's for a good cause."

"Yeah," she snorted. "Old widow Erwin probably hasn't gotten _any_ for _years_."

"Sara! You're sixteen going on a thousand, you know that?"

"Truth is truth, no matter how old one is," she intoned.

In actuality, he couldn't argue with that. One shoulder of her form-fitting red top had slid down to expose a thin bra strap. Tsking, Shane reached out and pushed it back up in place again with a finger. "Did anyone mention to you that this is a church and not one of the shows?" he asked idly.

"Yeah, my parents. Repeatedly."

"Ouch," Shane winced at the dig.

"Watch it, Mister _maybe we won't even leave my house_."

He motioned for her to follow him. "I'm going over to buy the lemon wedges. Want one?"

"Eww. You _do_ know those things are nasty?"

Shane chuckled. "Yeah, so I've heard." He leaned closer conspiratorially. "I've convinced her to make up a whole crapload and give them out to everyone as Christmas gifts this year."

Several heads turned in their direction as Sara's loudly irreverent laughter rang through the room.

And of course, Sara did take Jonas's advice. Come back in a few years. So she did.

.

**End Chapter Five: The Way to Heaven**


	7. It's the Thought That Counts

**AN**: Another outrageous story from the past of these two oddballs... ;-)

.

Chapter Seven:

**It's the Thought That Counts**

.

_You took my feelings  
From nothing  
Came back at noon  
Just meet me  
I'm ready  
To show myself to you…  
You touch my inner smile  
_--Inner Smile, Texas

.

Shane always worked on Christmas. He didn't mind, he had no reason to stay home and he enjoyed giving the others the day off to spend with their families. It was usually quiet, and he had the whole office to himself. He was a vampire who'd been born heathen and dabbled in a variety of religions over the centuries. It was no big deal to him, although of course the townsfolk weren't able to grasp that. He suspected many of them felt sorry for him because he had no family in the area. He always got tons of invitations – and, unfortunately several plates of food were always delivered. One year there had been a drunk cooling his heels in the cell who'd enjoyed the surprise holiday meal. Another, the mutt who hung out behind the station begging for scraps had been treated to a feast fit for a doggie king. This _was_ how he celebrated the holiday – by giving to others.

Shane was mulling over what he was going to do with the stuff this year when he walked into his office and stopped short. There, sitting in the middle of his desk was a huge gaily wrapped box, tied with a big red bow.

He wondered… but then he saw the card attached and recognized Sara's handwriting. He wasn't sure how to feel about it. It was a surprise; he was touched but felt a bit uncomfortable, too. It wasn't like they'd agreed to exchange gifts, and it could be a bit awkward, depending on what it was. After staring at the card for a moment, he sighed and unwrapped the box. Removing the lid, he lifted out the gift – taking an involuntary glance around him even though he knew he was alone. It was a beautiful, glass, multi-colored work of art, obviously lovingly crafted by the artist. It was stunning.

It was a bong.

The ugliest artificial flower bouquet he'd ever seen was sticking out of the top. The card on the inside simply read, "_Enjoy your flower vase. SA_."

Falling into his chair, he stared at the gift and started cracking up. Only Sara Adams would buy the Sheriff of the town a bong for Christmas. But then again, only Shane Alexander would appreciate the joke. As she knew he would.

He laughed for a long, long time.

XXX

Sara strolled into his office the next day. Shane tried really hard to maintain a serious expression when he saw her, but couldn't hold the smile in.

"Did you like your present?" she asked, looking pleased with herself.

It was hopeless now, he couldn't stop the grin. "It's the best present I've ever gotten," he told her. He reached into his desk and pulled out a folded slip of paper, handing it to her. "Since I didn't get _you_ anything…"

She unfolded the paper. On it he had written:

I O U -- 1 song.

"Pick _any_ song, and the band will play it," he explained.

"Wow. Cool."

Shane could see the wheels turning as she contemplated her choices. He would be bound by whatever she chose, even if it was a heavy metal screamer that would shock the crowd sober and wake the Resurrection's undead. It might be something she loved and really wanted to hear him sing – or just something to shake up the audience.

"It may take me awhile to decide… " she warned.

He shrugged. "That's okay, there's no expiration date."

"This is a really awesome gift. Thanks."

"You're welcome." With that, it was definitely time to change the mood, and subject. "Um, I don't suppose you're hungry? I've got all this left-over food..."

**End Chapter Seven: It's the Thought That Counts**

**AN**: sorry if anyone out there isn't familiar with the cultural in-joke. A bong is a water pipe made popular in the 70's permissive recreational-use culture. Many of them are indeed works of art that you can't help but admire for their beauty.

PS: sorry, but I don't know what song Sara picked yet _myself_. Maybe they'll tell me one day.


	8. Sweet Sixteen

**AN**: This chapter has been re-written, FYI. As I mentioned, it's actually supposed to be chapter #6. Sara is sixteen in "The Way to Heaven" and "It's the Thought That Counts." Since it would take the comments out of context with the chapters to change them, I'm leaving them in the order they are in.

.

Chapter Eight:

**Sweet Sixteen**

**.**

You're my baby, you're my pet

We fell in love on the night we met…

You walked out of my dreams and into my arms

And now you're my angel divine…

--You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful and You're Mine

.

It was a perfect night in Alaska. Darkness had fallen, and the air was crisp but not too chilly. The Adams sat in their back yard with Shane, enjoying the night and some conversation. Alisha was stretched out in a lounge chair, Ethan sitting in one of the camp chairs sipping from a glass of ice tea, and Sara sat with Shane on the double swing.

"So," Shane asked Sara during a lull in the adult conversation, "What are you planning to do for the Big Day?"

"What big day?" she asked, a bit listlessly, he thought.

"The Big 1-6 of course," he grinned.

"Oh that. Nothing."

"_Nothing_?" he looked at her incredulously. "You're not going to do anything special for your sixteenth birthday?!"

She shrugged. "Nope."

Shane narrowed his eyes at her. "Why?" he asked suspiciously.

She shrugged again. "I'm just not into all the birthday stuff."

Shane wondered at the real story. Was there more, that she wouldn't say in front of her parents? She hadn't seemed quite herself lately. He'd heard teenagers were notoriously moody, so he'd put it down to that, but now… Was it the birthday or something else? He couldn't imagine why she'd be depressed about her sixteenth, but sensing her reluctance to talk about the subject he let it drop.

"Don't you still have homework to finish?" Alisha asked her daughter pointedly soon afterward.

Sighing, she got up and went into the house without a word. Another red flag.

When he knew Sara was upstairs in her room Shane spoke. He'd already been formulating an idea, maybe one that would cheer her out of her melancholy. "I may not know much about kids, but I do know the sixteenth birthday is a BIG deal. Have you considered throwing her a surprise party?"

"What did you have in mind?" Alisha asked, sitting forward in her seat with interest.

"I was thinking you could have it at the Last Resort. The band could play. If it was on a night that we usually play, she wouldn't have a clue… uh, you could tell her you wanted to take her to see the band as a special treat for her birthday."

"I'll need to get a pen and start making up a guest list," Alisha said thoughtfully. "We could have all her favorite foods catered in…"

"I don't know…" Ethan put in doubtfully. "The last surprise party we threw for her – she walked out and refused to come back."

Alisha looked at Shane with a twinkle in her eye. "Oh, I have a feeling _this_ one she'll like."

_Huh_? Shane couldn't help wondering what had prompted her to make that prediction. The look in her eyes hinted at a subtler meaning, but he dismissed it summarily.

"She was ten," Alisha began explaining to Shane. "It was a relatives/friends of the parent's kind of party. She hated us for it. She'd wanted to have a get together at the pizzeria with her friends… but we felt she was hanging with the wrong kind of crowd so we wouldn't let her."

"Ah," he said, relieved that he now understood. "In that case, you owe her a good party."

XXX

In his human life, Shane had been a Viking. It was a dangerous and violent time, only the strong survived. In his subsequent centuries as a vampire, he'd seen some of the bloodiest and brutal times in history pass by. He'd stayed one step ahead of torch-bearing mobs and avoided making too many enemies that might want to take his head. As he helped the Adams' plan Sara's birthday party, it quickly occurred to him that _this_ was possibly the most dangerous thing he had ever undertaken.

Be that as it may, there was no choice in the matter. It was simply totally unacceptable that Sara would _not_ celebrate her sixteenth birthday in a big way. His idea was for the band to do a theme gig, playing all the traditional Sweet 16 songs… although when he started listening to them he quickly realized the theme could be an awkward one. Even Neil Sedaka wasn't safe, it seemed…

_You're future is sown up; from now on you're gonna be mine…_

It wouldn't do to be giving anybody ideas that weren't true, but a theme was a theme.

The next two weeks were hectic for all the party planners. As Alisha finalized her small guest list and chose the catering menu, Shane finished inviting the whole town and letting the caterer know to send the bill for anything over the agreed price to him. The band busily practiced doing all the songs they'd never played before. In retrospect he'd gotten totally carried away with the whole thing. His heart was in the right place. But his brain… he'd realize later that his brain was definitely AWOL.

XXX

_They say it's your birthday, we're gonna have a good time_

_I'm glad it's your birthday, happy birthday to you…_

The band opened with "Birthday" from the Beatles, as a stunned Sara walked into the bar with her parents, and noticed all the decorations, gifts, and the big banner above the stage that said, "Happy Sweet Sixteen, Sara". She was stunned speechless, which was a rare occurrence indeed. As the shock began to wear off, the band followed with "Sweet Little Sixteen."

She was still speechless.

The crowd was thoroughly enjoying themselves already; there was one thing the remote Alaskan town liked and that was an excuse to party.

"You're not going to run out on this one, are you?" Ethan asked his daughter, wanting to be sure.

"Uh…no," she answered distractedly, eyes riveted to the band on the stage. Or maybe it was the singer on the stage that held her attention.

Alisha grabbed her husband's arm and led him away, wanting to give her the gift of _not_ having her parents breathing over her shoulder at this party.

When the current song came to an end, Shane spoke into the mike. "I came across this next song when I was trolling to find appropriate birthday songs for the band to play – of which there were surprisingly few," he grinned ruefully, thinking of how the majority of them seemed to be about romance and love. "I really wanted to try my hand at it to see if I could sing it, so I'm warning you in advance it's not my usual style. It's a heavy blues number called "Sweet 16" and I know I won't even be able to hold a candle to B.B King's rendition. But here goes…"

_When I first met you baby, you were just sweet sixteen_

_You just left your home little woman, oh the sweetest thing I'd ever seen…_

As they followed that number with Neil Sedaka's "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen," the pattern for the night's songs was definitely more than obvious. Sara shook her head in bemusement. Not knowing whether she was thrilled or mortified. "I love him but I'm gonna have to kill him," she joked to Greg's daughter Mara. Who looked at her kinda funny, but she just ignored it since most people usually did. Just ignore them they'll go away was her motto. But Mara was okay, for the most part.

"What do you mean?" Mara asked after a beat, making Sara wonder for the millionth time why so many people needed everything spelled out for them.

"I don't know whether it's the most horrible night of my life or the best."

"Why would it be horrible?" Mara gestured around to all the guests and presents and festive atmosphere. "I think it's amazing and I'm jealous. I just had a pool party at my house with ten of my friends for _my_ sixteenth."

"Can we say EM-BARRASSING?!" Sara enunciated very clearly.

Mara grinned. "I almost forgot what being sixteen is like. Everything's mortifying," she laughed.

_I almost forgot what being an idiot is like_, Sara thought, but was proud of herself for letting the insult pass without commenting.

_Tonight's the night I've waited for, because you're not a baby anymore,_

_You've turned into the prettiest girl I've ever seen_

_Happy Birthday, sweet sixteen…_

The phrase 'rubbing salt into the wound' came to mind, but it wasn't intentional, so she was left to deal with her conflicting feelings about the night. And about her sixteenth birthday, which, while everyone else was celebrating, really didn't mean a whole hell of a lot to HER.

XXX

As Mara wandered off to find her college friends, Sara was joined by Shane. The band was taking a break.

"So, how'd I do with my B.B. King rendition? Not too horrible, huh?" he asked of the blues number he'd belted out with feeling earlier.

"I was impressed," she told him, easing his concern somewhat. She was an upfront chick; if he'd sucked she would have happily told him so.

"Don't look for a present from me," he warned. "_This_ party is your present. But it looks like you made out pretty good," he nodded to the table overflowing with gifts. Although it wasn't expected and not everyone brought a gift, a lot of the residents had contributed to the piles.

"I _knew_ my parents didn't plan this," Sara said.

"Well keep it quiet, okay, 'cause they think they did."

Sara gave him one of her enigmatic stares. "You're a trip, Shane Alexander," she told him candidly.

"You're a trip and _half_, Sara Adams," he returned, laughing.

Alisha came up to them, taking Shane's arm and pulling him aside. "I didn't realize there would be so many party crashers," she began nervously. "I'm hoping the food will stretch far enough, we only ordered enough for the people on the guest list…"

"Don't worry about it," he reassured her with a pat to her arm. "I should have told you before, but when everyone heard Sara was having a big sweet sixteen party they all wanted to come, so they've all pitched in to help pay. Don't mention anything though, because they don't want a big deal made out of it." Sometimes lies were preferable to the truth, and he figured this situation qualified.

"That's so sweet!" Alisha exclaimed. "She _does_ seem to be enjoying herself, well as much as Sara ever does," she finished ruefully. They watched her a moment, as she checked out her gift table diffidently. "They grow up so fast nowadays…"

_What did she mean by that?_

And why did he seem to be reading more meaning into innocent remarks these days? Shaking off the paranoia, Shane excused himself to jump back onstage again. For a change, the band performed "Sweet Little Rock and Roller." Shane had chosen to add it to the set list because the lyrics seemed so perfect for Sara's personality and love of rock and roll.

_"Sweet little rock and roller, nine years old and sweet as she can be, all dressed up like the downtown Christmas tree, dancing and humming a rock and roll melody. Since she became a rock and roll music fan. Shoulda seen her eyes when the band came to play, and the famous singer singing about a way…"_

The party continued in full swing, everyone enjoying themselves. It was nice to see so many people coming up to wish Sara a happy birthday. Shane knew, like him, she'd always felt more or less different from the rest, but she _was_ one of them, too. Maybe this party would help her feel more a part than apart.

Then the lights dimmed and the band went into the slow and melodic "Sixteen Candles," with Shane and Greg both singing vocals. It was beautiful and got a big round of applause.

_"Happy Birthday baby, oh I love you so. Sixteen candles make a lovely light, but not as bright as your eyes tonight… Sixteen candles in my heart will glow forever and ever for I love you so…"_

It was shortly after that when Shane temporarily lost track of Sara. There were songs to sing and people to visit with. The place was packed. When he finally ran into her again, he was dismayed at what his vampire's keen sense of smell picked up on her. They walked a very fine line and he didn't want her crossing it.

"Baby," he began warningly, and her head snapped up at the endearment so quickly she risked whiplash. He always did know how to _really_ get her attention when he needed to. He shook his head at her. "You gotta do me a big favor – no more stealing from people's drinks, okay?" She stared at him, obviously trying to figure out how he'd known. Luckily, he'd noticed before she'd managed more than a few sips. Not for the first time he thanked God he was a vampire. "You're gonna get you, your folks, the Last Resort, and me in a lot of trouble if you do."

"So I'm of legal age to fuck now, but I can't have a beer," she challenged with a spark in eyes. "How screwed up is that?!"

"Crap," he said with feeling. She'd just proved his previous suspicion that this birthday really _was_ bothering her. And he was beginning to have a sinking feeling about why.

Shane took her arm and led her outside into the chilly night air. They leaned against a car in the parking lot, both unconsciously mirroring each other and folding their arms in front of them. "I know it sucks." When she didn't respond, he continued. "I guess this whole thing was a big fucking mistake." In more ways than one. He felt as if he was tiptoeing through a minefield, and he had no one to blame but himself.

She sighed gustily. "No, it was a sweet thing to do. I'm just…"

"Impatient?" he guessed.

She swiped at her eyes, the gesture revealing the extent of her upset. "What's the big deal about this stupid birthday anyway? It's not like I can _do_ anything yet." _With you._

Well. So much for living blissfully in denial. There was only _one_ thing she could possibly mean by that comment, because she _was_ legal age of consent now…in _most_ situations, and she wasn't talking about drinking alcohol.

"The next two years will fly by, you'll see," he said a bit helplessly, not knowing what to say but knowing he was in very dangerous waters right now. It was lame, he was on the verge of starting to sound like a parent, but it was a rare occasion when he couldn't think of one cool thing to say. He must be _really_ off his game lately, more than he'd realized.

He had no idea what the next two years was going to bring, or even what would happen after and he wasn't the sort to waste time thinking about an uncertain tomorrow – but that wasn't something she'd want to hear right now. The things she wanted to hear… were things he couldn't say.

"I'm sorry you're upset," he settled on saying, upset himself. Maybe he should have allowed her to let the day pass unmarked; he'd only wanted to give her an enjoyable birthday.

Sara looked at him for a long moment. He pretended not to notice, keeping his gaze on the parking lot in front of him. Finally she shrugged. "I'd be upset whether I was here or at home in my room." She paused. "Here is definitely better." _You're here._

Shane brightened as he remembered something. "Hey – there _is_ something for you to celebrate. Now that you're sixteen, you're legal to hang out at the Last Resort un-chaperoned and watch the band."

"Uh, what??"

Could this night possible get _any_ more uncomfortable?! "Uh, you know, of course your chaperone _is_ there, me, but…"

"Now I don't have to sneak out of windows anymore?" she asked archly, clearly amused at his discomfort.

For the second time in one night, Shane had absolutely no idea of what to say. He cast about for a suitable remark, discarded several. That's what he got for living in those gray areas. "It's a good thing you didn't confess that to me, before," he finally muttered.

Sara looked away. "This sucks," she replied, disgusted with the whole situation. They were silent for awhile, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, she spoke again. "I promise no more stealing drinks."

"Thank you."

XXX

Back inside Shane reluctantly pulled the band into "You're Sixteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine." It was part of the theme, and he knew it would further lift Sara's mood. The lyrics were just a bit awkward, all things considered, but if it amused her, he'd deal.

"Can the birthday girl get a request?" Sara called up after that song was over.

"Sure," Shane agreed nervously, unsure what she had in mind.

"Christine Sixteen."

"Ooh boy. We're really stretching the band tonight," he said to cover up the real reason for his discomfiture. The band struggled a bit to find the tune as it wasn't a song they were familiar with, then managed a not-too-badly mangled version of the KISS tune, proving their flexibility. Sara enjoyed it and that made it worth it -- let her have fun making him sweat.

Shane also entertained her by doing a song called "Wild Child" by one of her favorite bands, Heart. And he couldn't resist his own personal favorite that he'd first heard his hero Jerry Lee Lewis do, "Wild One." Granted, the younger crowd would probably be more familiar with the Iggy Pop version…. Funny though, in his opinion it was a yawner compared to Jerry Lee's rockin' version. Joan Jett's rendition wasn't half bad, though. Sara didn't know it, but that's where his nickname for her, Wild Child, had come from. One of his favorite songs, by his favorite performer.

XXX

Later, after the band was finished for the night and the party was winding down, Shane went over to Sara and held out his hand. "I think I owe you at least a dance." She stared at him as if not trusting her ears. "Well if you don't want to," he teased, pretending to leave.

She grabbed his hand and all but dragged him onto the dance floor. An instrumental version of Sixteen Candles was playing.

She seemed better, but still wasn't quite herself. He could notice the subtle difference that others wouldn't. The typical Sara would have had tossed something right back, like, "you owe me more than that!" or some other smart aleck, double-meaning comment, not just looked at him as if she wasn't sure he was serious.

It probably wasn't a good idea (like so many of his weren't lately), but he couldn't not do _something_ when she was down. He tried projecting comforting vibes, wanting to help but having no idea how. At one point during the night he'd considered joining Silas and the others in partaking of the abundantly flowing moonshine, he was glad now he hadn't. He'd definitely needed a clear head to survive _this_ night. He rested his hand under her hair at the middle of her back, guiding her to the music.

"I hate seeing you upset," he said after a few minutes of silence, feeling a bit self conscious at the admission.

"Don't mind me," she told him hastily. "It's just a mid-life crisis, I'll be over it in a few days, I promise."

He laughed at her explanation. "Mid-life?!"

"It ain't easy being sixteen going on a thousand, you know," she said, echoing his words back to him. He'd told her once, after one of her more outrageous comebacks, that she was sixteen going on a thousand. Wise beyond her years, with a very adult grasp of the world.

"It must be hell!" he said, and meant it but her comments made him hopeful. If she was bitching, it meant she was starting to feel better. "You know what I think?" He met her gaze.

"Words of wisdom from Shane? I can't wait," she quipped.

"Some things are worth waiting for," he told her quietly. "Trust me."

And _if_ they were still there when the time came, they were meant to be. If not, it just wasn't. They were still looking at each other when Ethan abruptly interrupted, coming up to them on the dance floor.

"Well, you've allowed a dance from big brother, so you should be okay with a dance with dad," he said hopefully.

Meeting Shane's amused expression, Sara rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for the dance, sis," he told her, and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. He had to admit, it was with relief that he turned her over to her father.

The night was over, and by some miracle, they'd all survived it. Now, for her eighteenth – all bets were off.

.

**End Chapter Eight: Sweet Sixteen**


	9. Magic Man

**AN**: To recap; Chapter 8, "Sweet Sixteen" has been re-written some in case you want to go back and read the new version. This chapter is a companion. They both actually happen before "Way to Heaven" and "It's the Thought that Counts."

.

Chapter Nine:

**Magic Man**

**.**

Pretty man came to me, never seen eyes so blue,

You know I couldn't run away, it seemed we'd seen each other in a dream

It seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me,

Try try try to understand, he's a magic man…

--Magic Man, Heart.

.

Sara sat in her room, chewing on the top of her pen and staring at the page in front of her, trying to get the day's events down in her diary. Headphones on, her Heart playlist on the IPOD, she sipped at a glass of wine she'd appropriated from her parents. She wasn't big into drinking, it was just one glass (and of course that was all they'd allow). She figured she deserved it after the night she'd had.

_Birthday's suck. Okay, so this one was sucky __**and**__ great. That's a weird combo, let me tell you. I don't know __**what**__ to feel right now. I guess I was so stupid… I really hate being a teenager, and I hate how I get treated. Everything I feel is blamed on that, like I don't have justification for anything any other way. Shane's different… he's never treated me like the others._

Sara paused in frustration, as the IPOD went into the next song, "Secret."

"How do we ever keep this secret, how do we keep it in the dark, and if we dare to taste our weakness, how could we tear ourselves apart?"

_I __**hate**__ feeling stupid! I actually thought maybe… you know, I'm sixteen now, which is the age of consent here, so I was pretty stupidly looking forward to it, thinking maybe… look at what a chickenshit I am, I can't even __**write**__ it in my diary! Then I found out about the exception to that dumbass rule, the one about "authority figures." Pretty fucking good bet the Sheriff would qualify, and I'm back to square one again. Waiting._

_And I don't know why, but that just really hurt bad. So I wasn't in the mood for any parties. Now, the only birthday I care about is my eighteenth. Freedom._

She tapped her foot to the next song, "Call of the Wild."

"If I could chain you to me baby I would in a minute… how can you ask me why I'm pushing, pushing , when you know damn well what you do, what you do to a woman?"

_He was so great. He did the whole party just to make my birthday special, and the whole band played for me. He called me baby… We understand each other so __**well**__, without even talking. It's just so frustrating… Okay, I can do this. Just gotta wait a bit longer. It's okay now, it's fun. The teasing, and joking around._

_When he asked me to dance… I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest._

_What if he'd kissed me, out in the parking lot?_ She snorted to herself. _Yeah, great idea. He'd be in prison and I'd be waiting a hell of a lot longer than two years. Okay I admit it, I just can't abide stupidity. I've never been able to, for as long as I can remember. You know those old repeats of "All In the Family"? God, they make me cringe! I just can't understand by what logic it makes sense that I can now legally fuck my way through most of the male population of Resurrection – several times – but I can't be with a decent, honest, caring man because he happens to be "in a position of authority"?! Explain that to me._

_I saw part of a horse race once that my dad had on the TV. One of those famous ones, I don't remember the name of it. There was this thoroughbred waiting at the starting gate, and he was chomping at the bit, his legs quivering, longing to break loose and run free – but the gate was holding him back. I feel like that sometimes. When the gate finally opened he was gone, just a blur. That's going to be me, someday. I will have my turn. And nothing will hold me back. I'll have what I want, not what __**they**__ tell me I can have._

_Or who._

_._

You're so wild  
So wild (your spirit's free)  
Youre such a wild wild child  
Oh baby go wild with me

Two hearts one mind  
Baby youre my kind  
You're too hot you're too much  
You've got that personal touch

.

**End Chapter Nine: Magic Man**

All songs by Heart


	10. Touchdown

**AN**: Jumping ahead a bit here, I think, the next few chapters after this one will focus on Sara at 18, and otherwise I don't really have much from year 17…

.

Chapter Ten:

**Touchdown**

**.**

_Your innocent distractions hit me so hard, my emotion reaction caught me off guard…_

_It was nothing at all like anything I had felt before_

_Nothing at all like I thought, no it's so much more_

_No one else has ever made me feel this way_

_When I ask you how you did it you just say_

_It was nothing at all…_

--Nothing At All, Heart

.

Super Bowl parties. They were the tradition everywhere in America, Resurrection being no exception. They were often held at The Last Resort, but this year Shane was attending one thrown by Ethan Adams. Alisha had retreated to a friend's house, leaving the men to themselves. Sara hung around, but being uninterested in the game, she wandered in and out of the living room periodically, munching on the snacks and leaving wise ass comments in her wake. Shane found her more entertaining than the game, though he did have some money on it, so he was definitely interested in the outcome.

During the commercial break the football fans milled about, some discussing previous plays, others helping themselves to the finger food and drink set out on the dining room table. Shane bypassed the food, and the other alcoholic beverages in favor of a refill from the moonshine that Silas had thoughtfully provided. If he was feeling a little tipsy, it was a party and he was off duty -- it was a _requirement_. More than a few of the guests were already drunk as skunks. Luckily for all involved, most of them lived within walking distance – and the Sheriff would be making sure they did indeed walk. The cold air would do them good.

Returning to his spot on the couch, he saw that the seventeen year old wild child was back again, sitting there munching on a chicken wing.

Shane picked up her IPOD from the cushion between them where she'd left it, idly looking through the playlists. He raised his eyebrow at her. "I wouldn't have taken you for a Heart fan."

Sara snatched the player out of his grasp, wearing a distinctly embarrassed expression.

"S'okay, your secret is safe with me." He smirked. He had already listened to it, before she'd returned. Mainly Heart, most of the songs from the album "Brigade," it also included about five different songs titled or with Wild Child in the words. All in all it was a very revealing playlist. Personal. Listening to it had been, well, almost like reading a diary.

"With some of the things you guys play at the Last Resort, I wouldn't be poking fun if I were you," Sara retorted.

"Not poking fun. In fact, uh, do you think you could rip me a copy of it?"

Sara froze like a deer caught in the headlights for a moment, then seemed to recover. "You want a copy?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Thanks."

"Sara!" Ethan said as he passed the couch on his way into the other room. "There you are. George was looking for you," he told her with a smile. "I think he went out back for some fresh air." His tone suggested he thought she might be happy to have the information.

When her dad was gone, Sara looked up at the ceiling and rolled her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with my father?"

Shane rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully with a hand. "You're gonna have to be more specific."

"What possessed him to try to fix me up with George?" George Matorzo was a fellow student at Sara's high school; his father owned the local hardware store. "Apparently Ethan bonded with his dad over screw drivers, and now he's _really_ getting on my nerves."

"You want me to beat him up for you?" Shane joked. Sort of.

She looked sideways at him. "My dad, or George?"

Shane shrugged magnanimously.

"My knight in shining armor!"

Shane laughed. "I think your standards are a bit low, there," he returned self-depreciatingly.

Sara rose, intending to make her escape before George returned. She took the IPOD that Shane was still holding. "Oh, my standards are unbelievably high," were her parting words to him, as she headed for the stairs.

_So are mine_, Shane thought as he watched her leave.

_And you far exceed them, my Wild Child._

_._

**End of Chapter Ten: Touchdown**


	11. The Reformation

**AN**: Jump! In this chapter, we are quickly approaching Sara's 18th birthday, it's just a few short weeks away.

.

Chapter Eleven:

**The Reformation**

**.**

_Principles of Pilates: Mind over matter, breathing, centering (strong core), concentration, control, precision, flow or efficiency of movement._

.

Strong Core.

Shane liked working out. Strictly speaking he didn't need to, being possessed of a natural vampire strength and energy. Any skill though, got rusty with disuse, and maybe it was also somewhat of a habit. It really wasn't all that much of a workout when he went to the gym, since he was forced to use fewer weights than he could handle, and in general tone down all his routines to a more humanly achievable level. He enjoyed it nonetheless, and it was also good exposure for him. As Sheriff he felt it was important to interact with the residents in informal settings.

Then of course there was the Pilates class.

Efficiency of movement.

Shane _loved_ Pilates. Oh, he didn't actually _do_ Pilates, he just loved watching it. When he was at the gym he always made sure to stop in during class. Truthfully, he enjoyed flirting with the women, of all ages. He would hang out for awhile to ogl—uh, _watch_ them work their routines. They all loved it when the Sheriff arrived.

He knew he was in big trouble the day he walked in and found Sara there, on the Reformer.

"Hey, ladies," he greeted as he entered, hearing them return the hello before his eyes caught sight of one particular lady, and then he stopped noticing anything else altogether.

Concentration.

Even the name of the machine sounded dirty: the Reformer. It looked kind of like some weird sort of torture device, but it was a certain kind of sweet torture to watch the women bending backwards, forward, their bodies pumping in a very appealing rhythm. Or maybe some kind of kinky sex device, considering the straps…

And that probably wasn't the best thing to remind himself of while watching Sara go through her routine.

Mind over Matter.

Shane felt his mouth go dry. _Oh shit. Not good._ He couldn't tear his eyes away, although he knew he should. In desperation, he tried silently reciting penal code to keep his mind on track. Er… make that _criminal_ code… He paid special attention to Sections 11.41.438, and 11.41.440 of the Alaskan code, as they were of particular note to him and he'd had them memorized for quite some time now.

Precision:

Sara continued her routine, deep in concentration, seemingly oblivious. She held onto the bar with her hands, bent over forward, leg pushing back and forth, alternating sides. She hadn't so much as glanced in his direction once, but he could _feel_ her attention on him as clearly as a touch. It shimmered in the air between them, and Shane's carefully maintained house of cards collapsed in on itself. The line he'd never crossed, and he was on the other side of it in the blink of an eye.

Shane felt a hard smack on his arm, and managed to tear his attention away enough to see Gwenevieve giving him an exasperated look. "Man's practically drooling," she commented to the air.

Gwen was the instructor of the class, a friend and occasional fuck buddy. She appreciated his…stamina and strength, and he appreciated her flexibility. They enjoyed casually appreciating one another every once in awhile.

"What?!" he asked, still way too distracted for comfort.

"Um hmm," she concluded, both amused and exasperated.

"I just, uh…"

Breathing.

Shane wanted to turn his attention elsewhere, he really did. He appeared to be having some trouble breathing – which was odd for a vampire. He abruptly remembered that the soft, thin, clingy gray sweatpants he was wearing would not be leaving him with any secrets. It was time for a strategic exit. As in, _must get out now_.

Control.

As he backed toward the door, Shane mentally calculated the weeks left before Sara's eighteenth birthday. There were still a few yet, thankfully not too many to trip any guilt. In another blink of an eye she would be a legal adult.

"Gotta go," he finished telling Gwenevieve, and fled out the door. He knew without looking that Sara was watching him leave.

Shane never did go back to the Pilates class, in truth he was afraid to. It was henceforth ruined for him.

Turned out in more ways than one…

**End of Chapter Eleven: The Reformation**

**Note**: Many of you are probably wondering at this point -- what the heck kept Shane and Sara apart for that long year after she turned 18 and before the trip to L.A. when she was nineteen?! In the next few chapters, we will find out exactly why. For one thing of course, despite his reputation as a "bad boy" our Shane is quite the gentleman. Another, well, let's just say for now, there were some bumps in the road…


	12. Stuck in the Middle With You

**AN**: Darn... I just went to post chapter 13 and realized there was one missing! This chapter should actually have been #11, with The Reformation being #12. I don't want to confuse anyone though, so I'll just leave it the way it is.

.

Chapter Twelve:

**Stuck in the Middle with You**

**.**

_Clowns on the left of me, jokers on the right_

_Here I am stuck in the middle with you…_

_--Stealers Wheel_

_._

It was late evening, and the house was quiet. Alisha Adams sat at her dressing table, going through her nightly routine. Ethan was in bed watching the eleven o'clock news. Or at least she thought he was, until he spoke out of nowhere.

"Are you concerned about our daughter? I am."

"Why?" Alisha asked curiously, dipping her fingers into a jar of night cream, and beginning to apply it to her face.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that she's calmed down so much. It was definitely the right thing to do, moving here. And having a brother figure like Shane to look up to has helped too, I know."

Alisha met her own eyes in the mirror, but kept her thoughts on that to herself. "But?" she prompted.

"Isn't she supposed to be dating by now? She's seventeen."

"You _want_ her to date boys?" his wife asked him incredulously.

"Well, not really…" he mumbled. "But I know it has to happen _sometime_."

"Let me guess – you want to control when and how it does."

"I just thought… George is a good kid. He's smart, down to earth. Quiet, shy."

"And you thought he'd be perfect for Sara." Her tone was patently incredulous and sarcastic now. Alisha loved her daughter -- she just knew her.

"Okay, what kind of boy do _you_ want to see her with?"

"Oh, I don't know…one _she_ chooses? She'll start dating when she's ready. I for one am just as glad not to have to deal with it now. Remember, she was bugging us about dating when she was _nine_."

"Yeah, in New York."

Something in his tone alerted his wife to things unsaid. "You're wondering if it _was_ the right decision to move here, aren't you?"

"You know she hates us for it."

"Not so much anymore, I don't think," Alisha replied thoughtfully.

Ethan finally revealed what was bothering him. "In New York she had friends at least, even if they were wild. Here… she hardly has any friends her own age. She hangs around the adults or Mara and her college friends."

"And what do you want to do about it?"

"Maybe she just needs a little nudge. We could invite George to come for dinner…"

"Are we talking about the same daughter?!"

"I saw them talking during the Super Bowl party," Ethan told her.

"You did?" Alisha said, thinking maybe Sara did like the boy after all. With her it was hard to tell. She wasn't the type to reveal her feelings readily. She started to wonder if some encouragement _was_ in order. Was it fair to Sara to let the situation continue as it was just because it was more convenient for her parents?

"Still, I don't know if it's a good idea…" Alisha hung her robe over the chair and climbed into her side of the bed.

Ethan was silent a moment, pondering the mystery of teenagers. "Maybe I should ask Shane what _he_ thinks about the idea. God knows he seems to understand her better than I do."

"Now _there's_ someone who should be fixed up. Confirmed bachelor," Alisha's expression and tone telegraphed how she felt about that. She firmly believed all men were happiest when they had a family of their own, especially at Shane's age. Sara was young yet, she had plenty of time.

That was when Ethan got his bright idea. "Hey—maybe we could kill two birds with one stone then, and throw a little 'dinner party.' A 'date' for everyone. There will just be six of us."

Alisha had to admit she was becoming intrigued by the idea. "I was talking to Annie the other day, and she said Shane is always stopping by the Pilates class at the gym. I wonder if he likes Gwen? She's almost his age and she's never been married either. Has he said anything to you about her?"

"Not that I remember. Let's do it," Ethan cajoled. "It'll be fun. I can't wait to see the look on their faces!"

Maybe her husband's enthusiasm was contagious, maybe it was against her better judgment. If it was – she should have listened to it.

XXX

Sara got her first clue that there was something odd about her parent's dinner party when she came downstairs to see the dining room table set for six and two of the guests already in attendance. She stopped in the doorway and surveyed the scene with growing suspicion. Her parents sat at the head of the table. George Matorzo had been placed next to Sara's normal spot, and on the other side was Gwenevieve Hartley from the gym. Next to her, the sixth spot sat awaiting the final guest, which Sara knew to be Shane.

_What the hell?!_ "What's going on here?" she asked, still standing in the doorway. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out everyone had been assigned a 'date' for the evening. George was looking too happy; Gwen seemed faintly uncomfortable. Sara wondered if they'd been kept in the dark as well.

"The dinner party, remember?" Ethan told her. "You know George, of course. Have you met Gwen?"

Gwen smiled politely. "Hi, Sara, how are you?"

_Unbelievable_. "Hi," she returned distractedly. Shane couldn't have known about this either, she'd bet on that. "This is some kind of a joke, right?" It was like a bad scene out of a worse movie.

"It's just a dinner, sweetie. Come and sit down," her mother prompted, perhaps picking up on the fact that Sara wasn't taking the surprise well.

When the doorbell rang, Sara quickly volunteered to get it, heading down the hallway and opening the door. "Make a run for it, now," she hissed to Shane. "I'll tell them it was the paperboy."

"Huh?" he said in confusion.

Her warning too late, Ethan had come into the hallway and seen him. "Hey, Shane, there you are. C'mon in. The rest of the guests are here already."

Giving Sara – who was shaking her head – a puzzled look, he followed them into the dining room.

"Uh… hello," Shane said tentatively as he surveyed table, surprised to see Gwenevieve there.

"Shane, you know Gwen, don't you?" Alisha said brightly. Maybe a bit too brightly, in that way of someone who's started to realize their plans are failing miserably and are hoping against hope that it can be salvaged, while knowing it can't.

Gwen looked from Shane to Alisha. "This is uh…pleasant surprise," she managed, although her tone suggested otherwise.

Shane had the definite feeling he'd been set up – and obviously he wasn't the only one.

"Well, isn't this special," Sara said, sitting down in her place next to the hapless George. "I feel special. Don't you feel special?" she asked Shane, who was standing there with his mouth open.

"Uh…" Still trying to process the situation, he obeyed Alisha's gesture for him to sit down. He glanced at Gwen. "Did you know about this?" Although they'd never been overt about it, Shane and Gwen were known to get together every once in awhile, they enjoyed a casual no-strings-attached relationship.

"Of course I knew it was a dinner party, but I uh, was unaware of the exact guest list," she answered, clearly discomfited.

"That's an interesting name, Gwenevieve," Ethan said in an effort to make pleasant conversation. "I don't think I've ever heard it before."

"My parents couldn't decide whether to name me Genevieve or Guinevere," she explained with a shrug.

"It's great to see you again, Sara," George suddenly piped up, maybe trying to help Ethan divert the uncomfortable mood which had fallen. "That's a really nice sweater you have on."

Sara gazed at him through narrowed eyes. "You better _not_ be staring at my chest."

"Sara!" Alisha scolded, while George turned red and Shane coughed to cover his reaction. Even Gwen looked as if she was trying to hide a grin.

"Okay, this is just not going to work for me," Sara announced, having no intention of suffering through the pretext for the whole evening. "Look, George, I'm sorry my parents got this idea in their head, and no offense, but I have no interest in dating you. I'm sure there are a lot of nice girls in town who'd love to go out with you. I'm not one of 'em."

Shane snorted to himself. She was straightforward to a fault, that girl.

"Why don't you give it a try, you never know," Ethan suggested stubbornly. "When your mom and I first met, she didn't even like me."

"I'll be honest with you," Sara told George, ignoring her father. "You don't want to go out with me. I'll chew you up and spit you out and there won't be enough left to make a keychain!"

Shane rubbed his hands over his face, to abort his urge to laugh at the bizarre Sara-ism. He secretly agreed with her self assessment; no slightly geeky teenage boy was going to be able to handle Sara Adams.

George's eyes had widened in alarm at Sara's words of wisdom. "Maybe I should go now…"

And that was when Ethan made his biggest mistake of the evening. "Shane – talk to her," he implored, trying to enlist his help in changing Sara's attitude.

"Excuse me?" Shane whispered dangerously. "How could you think—" he began incredulously, but was so flabbergasted he had to stop and start again. "How could you _possibly_ think this was a good idea?!"

Ethan and Alisha had never had cause to see an angry Shane before, they were stunned into silence.

"I'm sorry Gwen," Shane told her. "I don't like being set up." He leveled an unfriendly look at the Adams. "You wanna do something like this, you _ask_ first. You've embarrassed Gwenevieve, and myself, putting everyone in a very awkward situation. And I'm perfectly capable of finding my own women, thank you anyway."

Shane got up and headed for the door, pausing to leave his parting words. "Oh, and I have a friendly suggestion," he began, but the hint of more than just a suggestion was there. "You embarrassed your daughter and her school friend too, and if you figure being respectful doesn't have to go both ways just because they're 'only kids' you might want to re-think your own attitude. Believe me, we reap what we sow."

Shane made his exit, leaving silence in his wake.

"Sara, honey," Alisha finally ventured, although it was in question whether she had anything to follow that opening with.

In any case, Sara, who'd been sitting there with folded arms during Shane's tirade, didn't give her the chance. "Like I'm gonna let my _parents_ fix me up on a blind date?!"

"All right, I know you're mad, but change the tone young lady," Ethan warned.

Sara threw up her hands, and followed Shane's exit.

"Well, that didn't go well," Alisha told Ethan as the two remaining guests sat there uneasily, one nervously sipping at her glass of water and the other tearing a paper napkin into little pieces. Embarrassment was definitely on the menu for all this evening.

"Okay, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at Sara's reaction," Ethan whispered to his wife. "But what's with Shane? In my single days I wouldn't have bitched about being fixed up with a foxy chick, I can tell you."

Alisha threw down her napkin and stood. "I don't know why I let you talk me into this hare-brained plan," she said, and headed upstairs, leaving him to deal with the fallout.

XXX

When Sara walked out of the house, Shane was leaning against the front of the cruiser. She silently joined him, taking a seat on the hood. She hadn't bothered to grab her coat before leaving the house and although her sweater was warm, it was winter in Alaska. She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill.

Noticing her state, Shane took his jacket off and handed it to her to put on. "No offense, but your parents are really stupid."

Sara smacked her forehead. "Tell me about it! Oh my god, I just don't understand. Maybe I'm adopted. I mean, there's stupid and then there's…unbelievable."

"That was so embarrassing…" – they both said at same time, then laughed at the coincidence.

"Oh my god," Sara repeated, having worked herself up to a good rant. "They're brain dead. They're freakin' retarded brain dead."

"They _have_ out done themselves," Shane had to admit. "I liked the 'keychain' line," he told her with a smirk. "What the hell does that _mean_, anyway?"

Sara had to laugh. "I don't know, it sounded good. You wanna go grab something to eat? I'm starving, and we didn't get dinner."

"The whole debacle killed my appetite," Shane improvised; if he didn't _have_ to eat, he wasn't going to. "But c'mon, the diner is still open, I'll buy you a cheeseburger."

XXX

When Valentine's Day came around a few weeks later, all three of the Adams happened to be in the living room when the delivery arrived for Sara. There was a bouquet of flowers; carnations, baby's breath, and one red rose in the middle. Accompanying them was a box of chocolates and a card which simply said: From a Secret Admirer.

Alisha and Ethan stared at their daughter as she stared at the card in her hand. "Is there someone at school you haven't told us about?" Alisha asked suspiciously; she definitely wouldn't put it past her daughter to keep something like that from them.

"Maybe it's from George," Ethan suggested hopefully when Sara didn't answer. He hadn't quite given up on that idea yet.

"George would have signed the card, don't you think?" Alisha pointed out.

"Not if he's being romantic," Ethan opined.

Sara had had enough time to process the idea of the gift -- the giver, and the reason for the gift. She was only too happy to use the opportunity to torment her parents. The gift that keeps on giving. "Maybe it's from George," she agreed. "Or maybe there _is_ someone at school I'm involved with," she added cryptically. "Or maybe I have no idea who sent it…"

She took her gifts and ran up to her room, leaving them to wonder.

XXX

Sara made it a point to stop by the Sheriff's office after school the next day. Shane looked up from the report he was filling out to see her standing there, a flower in her hair and amusement on her face.

"What's up?" he asked innocently.

"I got an interesting delivery yesterday. Candies, flowers… Card wasn't signed. I'm thinking maybe I should file a police report, you know, stalking. Can you help me with that?"

"You have a secret admirer?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Do I?" she returned.

"Looks like, huh?"

"Yeah, right." She smirked at him knowingly.

"Uh, busted, huh? Truth is, I figured it would drive your parents ape shit – they deserve it after the stunt they pulled with that 'dinner party' of theirs."

"Well, if you _really_ wanted to drive them ape shit…" she paused for dramatic effect. "You should have signed the card."

Shane snorted. "I'm vengeful, not suicidal. Hey – here's your _real_ Valentine's Day present from me, Wild Child," he told her, tossing something at her.

She caught it deftly. It was an abstractly shaped piece of wood, obviously hand made into a keychain. Burned into it was a name: George.

Sara laughed, enjoying her "gift." Before leaving, she pulled out one of the carnations she'd had behind her back and affixed it to his lapel.

"Maybe next year I'll get a keychain with _your_ name on it," she said after she was already in the outer office. Whether she suspected he could hear her or not, he didn't know.

"I wouldn't rule that out," he agreed.

.

**End chapter twelve: Stuck In The Middle With You**


	13. Happy Birthday, Wild Child

.

Chapter Thirteen:

**Happy Birthday, Wild Child**

**.**

_And here we are together, standing closer than we ought_

_But we're still standing here untouched_

_Too scared to make a move_

_We want so much to touch and we can't wait forever_

_We know it's dangerous for us to be together…_

--Secret, Heart

.

_Fate is a funny thing. Events sometimes don't go the way you expect, and manage to surprise you even when you **don't** know how they're going to go. If either of us had ever imagined what Sara's eighteenth birthday would be like, it's doubtful we would have entertained **this** scenario…_

XXX

Shane Alexander didn't have many regrets in his one thousand plus years, but every rule has an exception. Sometimes you can regret things even while also knowing they were for the best and you're glad they turned out the way they did. Life can be contrary that way.

It was an unremarkable day, a day like any other. Nothing special, really, just marked on a calendar as the day when, eighteen years ago, Sara Adams was born into this world. Henceforth it would be remembered as the day when two idiots did the inexplicable, creating a chain reaction that would reverberate for years to come.

No plans were made, just vague, amorphous expectations that had never been given the reality of words. Sara accepted a last minute invitation for what was _supposed_ to be just a quick drink with Mara and her friends. She had a _lot_ to celebrate after all, she was finally eighteen and there was nothing standing in her way anymore.

Except, it turned out, the two people she would have least expected.

XXX

It was ten thirty p.m., close to the witching hour and the end of the unremarkable day when Shane extended an invitation of his own. Gwen had called, bored and horny, and since he was in a similar state he invited her over to rectify the situation.

It was close to one a.m. when his doorbell rang for the second time that night.

It's not like he didn't know who was on the other side of the door before he opened it, or smell the booze wafting in his direction. And life just got even more difficult.

"Happy Birthday!" Sara announced loudly when Shane opened the door.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath.

"Oh yeah, that's right, it's _my_ birthday." She giggled, brushing past him into the room.

"I see you've been out celebrating," he said, his feelings a jumbled mixture of amusement, annoyance, concern, and disappointment. She was, as the saying goes, drunk off her ass.

"Do you know how many bars there are in Fairbanks?"

He sighed. "I have a feeling _you_ do."

She giggled again, but the sound cut off abruptly when Gwenevieve Hartley walked out from the general direction of the bedroom.

"Fuck," Shane whispered again.

Can you say awkward? I knew that you could.

"I'm gonna drive Sara home," Shane told Gwen, who nodded in understanding.

There was nothing else he could do. The moment she showed up at his door drunk the only choice was to take her home to sleep it off. For a lot of reasons. To even consider anything else would be taking advantage of someone who wasn't clear headed enough to make decisions.

"C'mon," he told Sara, reaching out to encircle her wrist with his hand, the touch meant to unobtrusively check her temperature and pulse for any signs of alcohol poisoning. Even in someone used to drinking a lot, which she wasn't, it was a danger most people never even considered when out partying. To his relief, her vital signs were fine.

"What the hell kind of a name is _Gwenevieve_, anyway?" Sara muttered to herself with her typical sarcasm, unaware that she could be heard. Otherwise she followed Shane out to the truck in silence.

"What happened to your jacket?" he asked, throwing his own around her shoulders.

"Lost it…somewhere," she answered, sounding a bit more sobered. "Not cold," she added but wrapped the jacket tighter around herself.

"No, you just don't _notice_ the cold," he said gently, opening the passenger door and ushering her inside.

"A difference which makes no difference is no difference," she intoned enigmatically.

"I'll give you points for being able to get that sentence out correctly," he told her as he pulled out and headed down the road.

Odd, how it felt in that moment like they were further apart than they ever had been, when it should have been the opposite.

Sara reached out and pushed the button on the stereo, catching the CD that was inside at the spot it had been in the last time it was on.

_Call it bad timing but I call it destiny_

_It wouldn't have happened if it wasn't meant to be_

_I felt your heart like a magnet_

_Your eyes were touching me, touching me, touching me…_

They both stared at the stereo as the words of Heart's "I Want Your World to Turn" filled the air. From Sara's playlist. The one Shane had her make a copy of.

_Fuck_, Shane thought to himself.

"I feel sick…" Sara announced abruptly.

Shane quickly pulled the truck over to the shoulder, and almost before it came to a complete stop she had the door open and was losing whatever she'd eaten earlier. Shane wasn't inclined to speculate on what that might have been but it was marginally better than listening to the music as the next song, "Nothing At All" came on.

_It was nothing at all like anything I had felt before_

_No nothing at all like I thought, no it's so much more_

_No one else has ever made me feel this way..._

Instead of pulling out onto the road again when she was finished, he reached into the glove compartment, pulling out a small wrapped package. "Didn't have a chance to give that to you," he said casually as he handed it to her, as if it was no big deal.

Sara looked at it for a moment before tearing off the paper. Inside the box was a necklace. It must have been custom made, because hanging from the gold chain was a charm that said: _Wild Child_.

"I'm uh, not really good at the present thing…" Shane explained, shifting uncomfortably.

"I love it," Sara told him. "Can you put it on?" she asked, lifting up her hair to expose her neck. "My fingers don' wanna work."

The ritual was performed in silence save for the soundtrack to their lives playing on the stereo.

XXX

When the two of them entered the Adams house, they were met in the hallway by a worried mother.

"Sara, where have you been?" Alisha demanded, keeping her voice pitched low in deference to a sleeping husband that she had no desire to awaken. She shot Shane a concerned and questioning look.

"None of your business, I'm an adult now," Sara responded in irritation, her voice still slurring slightly.

"Yes, I can certainly see you're acting like one," her mother responded.

"Everything's okay," Shane assured Alisha. "She just accidentally celebrated a bit too hard, when you're not used to drinking just a couple can do it. She did the right thing, came and asked me for a ride home."

"This is ridiculous," Sara pronounced, shrugging off her mother's hand when it came to rest on her arm.

"Thank God your father's sleeping," Alisha told her. "Let's get you upstairs to bed."

"Hands _off_," Sara demanded as her mother reached for her again, her voice starting to rise. "I am a legal adult now, you don't get to touch me without my permission, get it?!"

Sensing the situation beginning to escalate, Shane sought to diffuse it quickly. "I'll take her up," he suggested. "She's not _quite_ as mad at me."

"Don't be too sure about that," Sara grumbled, but allowed him to steer her up the stairs. "How did that step get there?!" she demanded as she tripped halfway up.

"I think it's been there since they built the house," he told her with a grin.

The first stop was the bathroom, where he grabbed the aspirin bottle and poured some mouthwash into a Dixie cup, handing it to her. "You'll thank me in the morning, believe me," he said in response to the look she was giving him.

"Before or after I kill you?" she inquired after she spit the Listerine into the sink.

"Ah, I could say the same of you, couldn't I?" he replied cryptically, ushering her into her bedroom.

"I wish the damn room would stop spinning," Sara complained as she dropped onto the bed, fully dressed including the oversized borrowed jacket. "Is there a tornado? Am I going to wake up in Oz?"

"No, but you'll probably wake up in hell," Shane told her, snagging a bottle of water she'd left on the dresser and handed it to her with the aspirin. "Drink a lot of water, it'll help rehydrate you and lessen the hangover."

"Thank you, Doctor Alexander. I don't have very good luck with birthdays, do I?" Sara whined. "Will you open this damn thing?!" she demanded, thrusting the bottle back at him.

Shane sat on the bed and easily twisted off the cap, handing it back.

"Show off," she muttered.

"You got some mouth on you, you know that?"

"You're just noticing that now?" she quipped.

"Oh, I noticed a long time ago," he said, the finger that reached out to trace her bottom lip changing the meaning of the words. Less than a heartbeat later it was replaced by lips.

The first contact was like an electric shock. When mouths opened and tongues touched it became a free fall into space. From zero to sixty instantaneously, stone cold sober and tingling from head to toe. It was far more than just a kiss; it was a meeting of souls, shattering in its simple intensity.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. By the time Sara opened her eyes she was alone in the room.

XXX

Alisha was still hovering in the hall when Shane came back down.

"She'll sleep it off, she'll be fine," he assured. He was much less sure about himself at the moment.

"Thanks," Alisha told him. "I have coffee made, if you want some."

"No thanks, I gotta get back to my date."

"Date? Oh!" Alisha brightened considerably, never quite having given up her hope of him finding a nice woman to settle down with. "You'll have to bring her over for dinner next week," she invited.

"She's not my girlfriend," Shane clarified.

"Well, not _yet_," Alisha teased with a smile.

"Forget the coffee, it'll keep you awake," Shane suggested as she walked him to the door. "Get some sleep, you're probably gonna need it." He couldn't even imagine what a Sara with a hangover would be like.

"Goodnight, and thanks again," Alisha said. "I don't know what we'd do without you."

"Um… yeah. 'Night." Shane made his way to his truck to drive home, not knowing whether he was going to work out his frustrations with Gwen or sever their arrangement permanently when he got there.

And unbeknownst to them, the year of hell had officially begun.

.

**End Chapter Thirteen: Happy Birthday Wild Child**


	14. A Chink in the Armor

.

Chapter Fourteen:

**A Chink in the Armor**

**.**

_Another restless night without you, secret feelings locked away_

_I close my eyes and think about you, I memorize each word you say_

_Emotions tear me apart; thoughts never spoken are here in my heart_

_Sarah, oh I need you_

_Sarah, you take my breath away…_

_--Sarah, Chris Norman_

_._

It was a boring night in Resurrection. Some of them were like that; he'd make his rounds and then spend lots of time sitting at the desk waiting for something to happen. Except that this night, as so many others lately, there would be no smiling face at his doorway, no one to fill that worn spot on the couch in his office and brighten up the décor. Monotony couldn't exist in the same space as Sara Adams; it ran screaming into the night waving a white flag of defeat when she was around.

Only she wasn't around and hadn't been for…too long.

So Shane trolled the music websites on his computer to pass the time, searching for songs that answered some need in him that he didn't quite know existed. They came to him in just a few hours one evening, one after the other falling into his lap as if by magic. Many of them he'd never even heard of before, but, like the girl, they saw right through him into his soul. His fingers flew over the keyboard, downloading, saving them to his playlist almost without conscious thought. They would be his secret confession, and if he was lucky, his purging. He burned them onto a CD and slid it into the plastic sleeve of his CD wallet, a generic disc with no title, no writing on the front. He didn't need any.

Shane Alexander didn't waste time on regrets, and he didn't get attached to the future. He was pragmatic to a fault. All any of us have is now, the past is gone and the future isn't here yet. It was his motto, the creed he'd lived by for many centuries. He'd been content to let life wash over him at its will, dealing with everything that came along with a Que Sera Sera attitude that protected him from the angst and guilt trips others regularly suffered from. You make your decisions and you accept the results. It had served him well.

So now, he was surprised to find himself on shaky ground. It would just take a little time to adjust, he told himself. Changes were sometimes harder than others, even for vampires who were forced by necessity to deal with more profound ones than mere mortals.

She was a human girl. Young, with her whole life ahead of her. She deserved to live it the way she chose. Maybe they'd read each other wrong, or maybe time had changed things. Maybe he'd fucked up – or maybe she had. And maybe she'd be back. You never knew about the future. Even his brother Josef who'd made millions predicting the market couldn't predict the future. He was not a morose vampire and he was not about to become one. This too would pass.

He pulled out her latest letter to chuckle over her descriptions of her dorm mate's antics and complaining about how college students had turned out to be just as stupid as high school kids. He already had a Christmas gift picked out for her; a laptop computer so the poor girl wouldn't have to borrow her roommate's or use the computer lab. For some reason she seemed to prefer mailing letters to email, but it would probably make schoolwork so much easier with one. And you really couldn't beat the convenience of email…

XXX

_The view from my window while it's still the same, it's changed somehow_

_And the cracks in my armor are self sympathy, unattended now._

_Whenever you want me babe, I'll be there_

_If you need me girl, oh baby this I swear_

_I'll be there._

_--I'll Be There, Chris Norman_

_._

"What's up?" Greg asked, sliding into the booth across from Shane at the Last Resort.

"Not a thing," he enunciated clearly, carefully settling his empty glass down onto the middle of the table. The glass that had previous held Randy's best moonshine. Several times. He wasn't some kinda drunk – he would wait a few moments before rushing for a refill.

"It's just that, I don't think I've ever seen you getting sloshed before."

Among the many things that Sheriff Alexander was known for was being able to hold his liquor and drink anyone under the table. Of course they had no way of knowing that vampires assimilated regular liquor very quickly, and Randy's special home brew was another matter entirely. God love him.

"I love Randy…" Shane said with the sincerity only a drunk can achieve.

"Oh, so it's because you're questioning your sexual identity," Greg joked.

Shane found this the funniest thing he'd heard in a low time, and laughed appropriately. "I'm celebrating," he confided when his mirth had died down.

"Celebrating what?" Greg pressed.

He made a shushing noise. "It's a private celebration." Two months exactly – to the day. That was definitely worth a party.

"Woman troubles?" Greg guessed, causing Shane's head to fly up sharply. "I haven't seen Gwen around lately…"

"I'm not going to be seeing her anymore," he said, letting Greg think what he would. They'd always had a very casual, occasional thing going. Leave it to a small town to read more into things than there were. But also _less_ into other things than there was too, so he couldn't complain. Truth was, there were too many associations there for his liking.

The alcohol had definitely numbed him, but funny…that hole was still there. He could still feel it, gaping, empty. Just like the first time he'd looked out into the audience during a gig, and the reality that she wasn't there had hit him like a sledgehammer to the gut and he'd hung onto the microphone stand like a lifeline, trying desperately to regain his equilibrium. It hurt like nothing had in one thousand years. How was that possible?

Time for a refill.

"I miss her," he told Greg honestly after he'd gotten a fresh glass. He wasn't talking about Gwenevieve. It was a surprise, but he wasn't sure why. The booze wrapped him in gauze.

"Whatever happened, why don't you talk to her? Let her know how you feel?"

Shane shook his head. "Can't."

"Why not?" Greg insisted.

"If it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be," Shane intoned. "She chose to move on. She has that right. I have no right to stand in her way." He told himself that daily, these days. It shouldn't even be that much of a surprise, he'd always been aware of the possibility. Crushes often faded with time and maturity.

Was that supposed to make him feel better?

"That's rough," Greg commiserated, misinterpreting Shane's words and having no clue what he was really talking about. Or who. And that was the way it had to stay.

Shane stood up, having the sudden desire for the oblivion of a deep freeze. "Time for bed," he said, tossing some bills on the table for a tip.

Greg stopped him with a hand on his: he'd _really_ never seen Shane in this kind of state in all the years he'd known him. "You sure you're okay?"

"I will be," Shane assured him. "It's tough being a thousand going on eighteen, you know?" With that cryptic reply, he made his way out of the bar and home.

_I looked for love wherever I could find it, was lost without a trace_

_I didn't see that love had already found me_

_Till I saw your face_

_Oh Sara, I don't know where I'd be without you_

_Oh Sara, tell me where I'd be without you…_

_--Oh Sara, Alien_

**End Chapter Fourteen: A Chink in the Armor**

Shane's playlist. Like Shane I found these songs in a few hours and had only heard maybe half of them before. They express Shane's feelings for Sara eerily perfectly. I had the devil of a time picking just a couple to quote as they're _all_ perfect. If you'd like to read the rest of the lyrics, there are many song lyric websites out there where they can be found.

Sister Sarah, by Rebbesoul

Oh Sarah, by Alien

Stumblin' In, Chris Norman & Suzi Quatro

Sara, Chris Norman

I'll Be There, Chris Norman

Right Time, Wrong Place, Chris Norman

Under Your Spell, Chris Norman

Obsession, Chris Norman

Sara, One Flew South

Sara Smile, Hall & Oates

Wild Child, Robby Valentine

Sara, Fleetwood Mac

Don't Wanna Let You Go, Quiet Riot

Shadow of a Doubt, Asia

Holy Water, Bad Company

You Sexy Thing, Hot Chocolate (just 'cause he's a naughty boy)

Wild One, Jerry Lee Lewis ('cause that's where he got Sara's nickname)


	15. Property of the Sheriff's Department

.

Chapter Fifteen:

**PROPERTY OF THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT**

**.**

Baby if you turn around and prove to me it's real

Maybe we can work it out 'cause this is how I feel…

Do you know when you go and you give it all away

I'll be there for you, care for you, love you every day

Do you feel the same for me?

'Cause baby, I loved you from the start…

--If You Come To Me, Atomic Kitten

.

It was chilly in the dorm, so Sara pulled a sweatshirt over her head. It said "Sheriff's Department" on the front and was like half a dozen sizes too big for her. She was glad she's had the foresight to 'appropriate' it before she'd left Resurrection, because it came in handy on nights like this. And made her feel closer to him. Truth be told it was more a wave of homesickness that made her feel cold.

She bit the top of the pen in her hand, a nervous habit. The blank page of the journal stared at her accusingly, waiting to be filled.

_Am I supposed to feel **different** now?_ She wrote tentatively. _I guess I'm supposed to be a Woman now, or some such shit._ All she felt was cold. And blank_. It meant nothing, just a means to an end, so it's not like it's any big deal. _

Abruptly she felt like throwing something. Instead, she grabbed the headphones and raised the volume on her IPOD, filling her ears with the sounds of one of Shane and the Boys many gigs at the Last Resort. The quality wasn't the best, but hearing his voice was enough to soothe her erratic emotions.

_It's only sex. Hell, I've known all about that for years now; I've even enjoyed it quite often, well solo that is. I've done all the research and gotten all the technical details committed to memory._

_How is it that one kiss from Shane Alexander was more of a turn on than being fucked by Neil? It was okay, I guess, nothing to brag about – although I suppose he will!_ She wrote with a laugh. _When Shane kissed me the earth moved. I can't tell anyone because they wouldn't believe me, but I swear I came just from that. Yeah, okay, stop laughing. You wouldn't be laughing if it was **you** he kissed…._

That thought made her pause again, trying to banish the memory of Gwen walking out of the bedroom. _Built, twenty-something, fitness instructor that probably knows all sorts of tantric stuff too. How pathetic am I, a little kiss got me all hot and bothered? Boy do I need the practice! Funny. Shane's a big part of the reason I was still a virgin at eighteen, and he's also the reason I'm here at college and **not**._

_Sometimes I wonder if this was the right decision. But then I remember the kiss and I know that it's important for me to meet him as more of an equal. _

_I miss him. Haven't gone more than a couple of days without seeing him in over two years. Maybe that's good too, to be on my own for awhile. He doesn't need some stupid kid hanging around him; he needs a woman by his side. _And it wasn't like they never saw each other; she came home at least one weekend a month. It was probably doing them both good.

Her resolve strengthened; if she had to be there she would make good use of the time and gather all the experience she could. Neil would be only too happy to help with that, she was sure. Then when she returned home she wouldn't feel so outclassed. She'd have more to offer.

Sara put the diary aside, deciding to write Shane a letter instead. They exchanged them frequently, full of lots of light joking bullshit, nothing real or serious. But she enjoyed coming up with creatively humorous letters that would make him laugh.

Her mood lightened considerably, bolstered by the knowledge that when she did come home for good, she'd be ready for Shane Alexander.

**End of chapter fifteen: Property of the Sheriff's Department**


	16. Where the Heart Is

Chapter Sixteen:

**Where the Heart Is**

**.**

_Wild Child, there's a place in my heart_

_There's a space in my life left for you_

'_Cause babe I still rely on you…_

_--Wild Child, Robby Valentine_

_._

She showed up unexpectedly one day about five months later. Shane looked up from his paperwork to find her leaning against the door with a smirk on her face, her eyes suspiciously bright. They looked at one another for a few silent moments.

"What'd ya flunk out already?" he quipped.

Sara shrugged. "College was boring."

"_College_ was _boring_?" he shook his head, half incredulous yet half believing.

"You didn't go and get married or anything while I was gone, did ya?" she joked.

"You didn't hear? Had five kids." She rolled her eyes at him. "Named one of 'em after ya."

Sara came into the room and flopped down on the couch in her usual spot. "I figure I can take most of the classes over the net, maybe drive down to UAF one day a week or something."

"Wouldn't wanna miss all the excitement in Resurrection," he agreed sardonically.

And just like that, they fell back into their old pattern, the banter that was their trademark. It was easy, familiar, and nonthreatening. Maybe it was what they both needed right now.

"It has a few things going for it," she told him.

"Yeah, us." His way of saying it was boring there without her.

Sara laughed. "Can't let you shoulder the burden all by yourself." She got up from the couch. "You guys playing tonight, right?"

"Same as always," he affirmed.

"You better be."

"You be at the show?" he asked.

"Where else would I be?"

"You better be."

Sara made her way out of the office, stopping just inside the door. "Oh hey, another invite from mom for a meatloaf and squirm at our house Sunday, one o'clock."

"Oh joy. An after-church squirm."

"I'll tell mom you'll be delighted to come."

After the third or so embarrassing and/or inadvertently awkward/funny dinner table topic at the Adams house, Sara and Shane had taken to referring to the dinners as squirms. Needless to say, he hadn't gone to very many dinners while Sarah was gone, using one excuse after another. Not really caring whether it was noticed or not.

"Hey—" Shane's call stopped her before she'd left. "I'm glad your back."

"Me, too." She gazed at him for a moment longer, and then left.

.

**End of Chapter sixteen: Where the Heart Is**


	17. Right Time

Chapter Seventeen:

**Right Time**

**.**

There's a way you look that's so hard to forget you

There's a look that's in your eyes

You know I wanted you from the moment we met

And if you feel it too you ought to realize

That it's the right time, oh it's the wrong place but it's the right time to fall in love with me

--Right Time, Wrong Place, Chris Norman

.

_It's funny how you can live for many hundreds of years yet still make mistakes. It's part of the human condition that we vamps also suffer from. Maybe it's the memory that goes; when you forget something important the Universe has a way of reminding you (yeah, like a 2x4 upside the head). Me, I'd forgotten how dangerous love is, how it can turn your life upside down and lead you to make mistakes. It's an Achilles heel, a weakness, vulnerability. It'll make you do stupid things, things you never would have done if you were in your right mind. It can be like a mental illness, or an infection._

_It's also a force of nature, a power that can move mountains. It's healing and salvation and sometimes resurrection. And in the end, human or vampire, it makes life worth living._

_._

Shane was trying to concentrate on paperwork…but that was boring under the best of situations, and he was more than distracted by his contemplation of recent events. Specifically, Sara's return. He wasn't sure why she was back, or what that meant for them. He was hesitant now, wanting to tread slowly and carefully amidst these changes. Her absence had shaken him more than he would have imagined. And that disturbed him.

Maybe it was for the best to take a step back, reassess the situation. He just wasn't sure where her head was at anymore, when there was a time he'd been convinced he knew. Maybe the things that remained the same were significant. She was still a very young girl and he was still a very old vampire. They still lived in a very small town, and he was still the Sheriff of it.

Having made his decision, Shane was just about to get back to the waiting paperwork when the phone rang. He picked up the receiver. "Sheriff's office."

The voice one the other end was a familiar one. "Sheriff Andy Taylor, sir?" came a very bad hillbilly accent.

Shane's smile broke out immediately. "Is that you, King Jay-Jay?" he retorted.

He could almost hear the answering smile. "Are you my slave or my court jester then?"

"You wish. To what do I owe the pleasure of this unexpected call?"

Josef's voice turned more businesslike. "Well, I've got these friends who want to visit Alaska for their honeymoon…"

.

**End Chapter Seventeen: Right Time**

A/N: And we have now caught up with the HB universe. I may go back and do more chapters of this at some point, if the muses tell me any more stories from Shane and Sara's early days. For now though, this is all I have. I hope you've enjoyed them as much as I've enjoyed bringing them to you. I hope to post more in my HB universe soon as well, so stay tuned.


End file.
